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Airwaves: An evolving American dream

Posted:
07/16/2014 02:58:46 PM MDT

In this space, I frequently write about evolving technologies and the strain they are placing on traditional business models. The music industry is the most obvious example; much ado has been made of the record labels' failures to meet the evolving demands of a new generation of consumers — digital natives among whom convenience is king. Of course, the publishing, motion picture and television industries has faced similar challenges.

While cultural critics hasten to point to shrinking attention spans, a surplus of information/entertainment and a growing cynicism toward advertorial messaging, Millennials (those born from the early '80s to the early 2000s) are far more complex than those superficial traits belie. Clearly, solving the Millennial problem is the trillion-dollar question for industry and enterprise, and I won't pretend like we're going to do that in this column; but it's interesting to look at the conditions that have shaped this generation — often called the "Me Generation" — and try to connect the dots between emerging attitudes and their origins.

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If you look at the arc of a Millennial's life, you'll see an early childhood of relative peace and prosperity — the '90s — followed by the 9/11 attacks, two incredibly long wars and a global financial freak-out, triggering a Great Recession. All the while, the greatest technological boom since the Industrial Revolution was shaping their worldview and access to information. It's no wonder that existing models have failed to meet the rapidly-changing expectations of this generation. In the history of human civilization, this is genuinely new.

Economic factors, by and large, have led Millennials to be less interested in owning their own home. Having witnessed the subprime housing bust influenced their view of a house as a status symbol; but, as the economic depression struck around the time that many would be buying their first vehicle, many postponed that purchase. Since the recovery, manufacturers have tried, unsuccessfully, to lure them into dealerships with new models, specifically targeted at younger consumers. Time and again, they have failed. Now, many experts are beginning to believe that this aversion to car-buying may be more than a temporary side effect of the recession. Like home-buying, this may in fact be a permanent shift in spending habits.

That business owners and market analysts view Millennials as the "Me Generation" seems to be their first mistake. Categorically dismissing an entire population of potential consumers — however complex or nuanced — spells certain trouble for the manufacturing sector, and its ability to adapt. In fact, it's exactly the sort of myopic view that has handicapped them against the true innovators.

Writing in "The Atlantic," Elspeth Reeve notes: "It's not that people born after 1980 are narcissists, it's that young people are narcissists, and they get over themselves as they get older. It's like doing a study of toddlers and declaring those born since 2010 are Generation Sociopath: Kids These Days Will Pull Your Hair, Pee On Walls, Throw Full Bowls of Cereal Without Even Thinking of the Consequences."

By anyone's standards, the American Dream looks markedly different today than it did even a decade ago. Millennials crave flexibility, freelance TV host Greg Goldner recently told "Fast Company," "We want to work from home when we can, creatively collaborate with others, and have random Fridays off." Simply put, they are a generation less interested in buying their legacy than they are in building it themselves.

The industries and companies that will succeed over the next decade will surely be the ones who understand this best.

Damien Willis is the program director at Hot 103. Read past columns and contact him at www.damiennow.com

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